Catalina Island/Avalon - My Solo Day Trip, in Photos (LOTS of Photos!)- 7/21/12

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by kaoden39

I'm here!!


A few questions for you. Is that a submarine I saw in the boat harbor? Do people actually live on the island? I see tourism is their industry, and it makes total sense.

Oh boy! An actual person! It's strange over in this forum, isn't it? Even though I can see that there has been some activity in the last week, it still seems like it's another planet over here! It seems quiet.

Yes - you have sharp eyes, Michele. That's the Semi-Sub. It's also called the Undersea Tour. Actually, I think that two different tour companies on the Island might have their own versions of the Semi-Sub.

Anyway, it's a really cool tour if you want to see fish up close and get pictures of them. I think it is a thousand times better than the famous Glass Bottom Boat tour. The Glass Bottom Boat is cool just because it's a boat with a glass floor, but you can't really see anything up close. So as long as you don't get claustrophobic and can handle a submarine-type of environment, the Semi-Sub tour is the way to go!

People live on the Island - I am trying to remember the number of residents that was once quoted to me. It was at least a few thousand, but they are all spread out. Many of them live in those stacked apartments and houses in the photos I posted above. Some of them live on the "other side" of the Island, which is Two Harbors.

The reason everyone mainly drives golf carts is because there is a long waiting list for people to have vehicles brought to Avalon. If the vehicles are service vehicles of some kind, then that's different. But just to have a car for the sake of having a car will require a wait of many years to bring the car over. It's a small town. There's really no need for a car unless you want to go inland or over to Two Harbors and drive through the buffalo.

I've been told by some of the residents in Avalon that they all have to take multiple jobs because it's expensive to live over there and each job does not pay very much. So a lot of people work day jobs, night jobs and weekend jobs. Some folks shuttle back and forth between the mainland and the Island - like maybe stay on the mainland during the week and come to their apartment or cottage in Avalon on weekends.